The narrative follows the early frontier and military training of George Washington from his beginnings as a teenage surveyor through his mid-twenties, tracing wilderness journeys into the Ohio country and confrontations with French forces and Native nations as control of the interior shifts. Episodes include diplomatic missions, scouting and skirmishes, the defense and loss of Fort Necessity, service with Braddock's column, and participation in the campaign that wrested Fort Duquesne. Adventure sequences and historical personages populate the account while a young frontiersman companion provides a boyhood viewpoint, and the events are shown as formative of Washington's leadership.